Chapter 9

Work began early in the compound the next morning. Calla and Abigail had spent the night in an undamaged shack that had previously served as an infirmary amongst the outside workshops. The only food available to them were a few raw vegetables from the greenhouse, so after a very unsatisfying breakfast, Calla came up with an idea.

"We all know that moving all that rock and rubble could take a week or more, and I for one can't do it without proper food. I'm a growing girl and I need my protein" she said to Eric

"What do you expect me to do about it?" the man complained.

Calla smiled in way Eric did not like.

"Well I thought you were in charge; but since you're not..." Calla turned her back to Eric in a show of defiance and directed her next question elsewhere.

"Hey Abby, you seemed to pick up the nuances of fishing a few days ago. Do you think you could head down to the river and try and catch a few for us?"

"Sure thing" Abigail smiled and nodded. Just the thought of a pan fried supplement to the vegetables they had just consumed made her mouth water.

"Wait a minute" Oliver objected "Are you really gonna let her go off by herself? What if she tries to escape again?"

"Hey... you were going to let us both go yesterday" Abigail pointed out "and as long as there is still hope we may find someone alive under all that rock and dirt, I'm not going anywhere."

"She's got a point there" Stanley noted.

"Alright then... but the other one stays here" Oliver conceded.

"My name is Calla, not the other one" Calla objected.

'

'

The toe of his shoe hit a rock on the side of the road causing Blue to stumble, but he caught his footing in time and managed to avoid falling. A light dusting of snow had fallen earlier in the morning and though it was barely enough to sparsely cover the ground, it still made Blue's feet feel numb. His stomach growled begging for food that wouldn't come, causing his mind to wander.

He began to reminisce about the first time he had set eyes on Calla, when she had fallen out of a ventilation shaft and knocked him to the ground. After a short period of unconsciousness, he had awoken to find this angry frightened girl threatening to stab him in the neck with a shielded electrician's flat bladed screwdriver.

In the months that followed their first meeting, Blue had experienced almost the entire range of negative emotions from this extremely complex person. There was the competitive jealousy, some violence, more anger than he could handle, and quite a lot of selfishness.

Calla had come into his life in an unexpected manor but then just as suddenly, she became a person who was friendly, attentive and more eager to learn. Blue suspected Doctor Sarah Spencer may have had a lot to do with this change in Calla's attitude although he had no way of knowing for sure.

From that time forward, Calla had become someone in whom he could trust and rely on in any circumstance; even choosing to risk her own life to help Blue with the rescue of his father and sister when they had become trapped in Earth orbit. Maybe that was why he had found it so difficult to accept Calla's plan for him to escape alone. She had been constantly by his side after leaving the Earth; affecting the rescue in space, travelling to Mars orbit to pick up the rest of his family, continuing on to the Asteroid Belt, beginning construction of a future colony, returning home to Earth, and finally travelling across the North American continent on their way home to Sumatra.

In his mind, he could see uncountable images of Calla, from the first look of terror as she burst out of one of the pressure release vents, through to her recent heart breaking plea for him to escape alone and leave her behind.

He knew she was his best friend, and he knew he could trust her. He knew he had very strong feelings for her, but now he starting to wonder if he really could be in love with her. The shock of the errant thought made him stumble and fall. As he got back onto his feet, he began ask himself another question; considering the distain she used to feel, could she ever really love him?

He decided he should take the opportunity to explore his feelings but as was usual for Blue, he instantly began by taking the intellectual route. He asked himself what he knew about love based on the studies he had done while growing up. He thought about it through the eyes of literature, religion, philosophy, personal relationships, and any other side angle he could think of. In the end he came to the partial conclusion that to love someone was to put that person, along with their own needs and desires, well ahead your own. Using this thought as a guide, Blue thought about how callous and selfish Calla had been those first few weeks he had known her. He went on to consider how she acted later, even to the point of putting her own life in danger to help Blue. Conclusion; high favourable.

They had been friends for almost a year and had been through so much together. Of course he had many friends, as well as his newly found Martian family, and he felt a certain attractive force to be with each of them. But when it came to Calla, he had to admit to himself that the attractive force was strong with this one.

For month after month, she had been a normal part of his everyday life. Even when he had moved out of the Railgun Complex and taken a room in the giant tanker, she was never really far away. So after all they had been through together, and considering the strong bond he had with her, Blue suddenly realised he could not deny it anymore; he was head over heels.

Maybe it had been selfish of him, not wanting to escape, leaving Calla and Abigail behind. True he may have been showing loyalty to the girls by not abandoning them, but they had put their trust in him to do what needed to be done. Not only did they want him to escape, they needed him to escape. If they ever wanted to get away themselves, they knew they would need a lot of help as they were greatly outnumbered.

Another rumble from the gut brought Blue crashing back to reality. No matter how hungry he was, not matter how cold or tired, he had to push on. He had to find DeGroot and the Bull Ant; and he wanted to find them before night time eventually rolled around again. Psychoanalysing his feelings about Calla had helped take his mind off the cold and his growing hunger, but nothing could protect him from reality.

'

'

Back at the compound, work continued through the day. Digging dirt, filling wheelbarrows, using long crowbars to lever rocks out of the way; it all soon became nothing more than a boring repetitious chore with no end in sight. Abigail did succeed in bringing back a good supply of fish, half of which were cleaned, cooked and consumed at lunch time. Calla suggested that since they were all working so hard, and would need to keep doing so for many days to come, that each person in the group should take turns to have a break from digging to go and procure food for the rest.

And so when they had finished eating, Stanley took a hunting bow and some snare traps out into the forest while the others resumed digging. He returned late afternoon carrying a rabbit and two large quail and was about to start preparing his catch for dinner, when an excited call came out from the tunnel dig site. Hurrying over, Stanley found Eric holding the end of a light gauge pair of shielded wires.

"Don't you know what this is?" he was asking the others.

"Wires?" Calla stated the obvious.

"Yes; this was connected to an old telephone system; its core is an exchange in the main cross tunnel" Eric explained "If we hook up one of the outer handsets, we might be able to make contact. If there is anyone alive in there, we could let them know help is on the way."

This revelation started a flurry of activity as Eric hurried off to fetch one of these old handsets, while the other four carefully dug around the wire to expose more while being careful not to break it. Eric soon returned with some tools and a very old Bakelite telephone that bore no buttons or dial, but instead had a small crank handle in its centre. He worked swiftly, using a sharp knife to expose the ends of the wire before connecting the ends to the back of the phone.

"Right then... here we go" he said as he started to turn the crank.

Inside the phone case, a small dynamo generator sent an electric current down the wire. If there was another phone still connected at the other end, it would merrily be ringing aloud for anyone nearby to hear. After turning the handle six times, Eric stopped, picked up the handset and listened carefully.

"Hello?" he said hopefully.

Everyone held their breath as they awaited some kind of response, but nothing was forthcoming. The group let out a collective sigh as Eric replaced the handset and resumed turning the handle. He turned it at least a dozen times before he put the handset back to his ear, but once again there was no reply to their call.

"Maybe there is nobody near the other phone" Abigail offered an alternative to the horrid thought that there may be no one alive to respond.

"No... no they would hear it... but it is highly likely that the wire has another break in it from the avalanche; probably more than one" Eric offered some hope.

"Then we keep digging... and do our best not to pull on the wire or damage it in any way" Calla stated.

"Yes!" Abigail said in support of the idea and they all resumed work.

'

'

As night fell, Blue continued to stumble down the road heading east. There had been no sun throughout the entire day so his clothes were still quite damp; he was cold and only getting colder. He kept his hands in fists and under his arms in a desperate attempt to keep them warm and avoid losing any fingers to frostbite.

A vale of darkness soon fell over the forest making it even more difficult for Blue to keep his bearings and stay on the road. Driving further and further on eventually proved to be his undoing as Blue tripped on something he could not identify and fell off to the side of the road.

"No... can't stay here" he told himself.

As he tried to lift his body off the ground, Blues head started to spin and he fell back onto his side unconscious. It was then that the dream began. He dreamt of all the places where he had previously slept in comfort but each time he reached one, there was someone else sleeping in his bed, and each one of them would prod him with a sharp stick to drive him away.

Eventually he awoke only to find where he had lay down, there was a very badly positioned rock under him causing the side pain. He shivered as he rubbed his head, wondering just how long he had been unconscious, when he suddenly realised he could not remember which direction he had been walking. In the dark both directions looked the same and he certainly did not want to go back the way he had come.

He continued to will himself onwards through the pain knowing it was only a matter of time before he either found the shelter he desperately needed, or fell once more onto the road. After fifteen minutes of stumbling, the clouds actually parted for a short time revealing a Half Moon hanging low in the sky.

"Dammit!" Blue cursed realising he was walking the wrong way.

A few hours later he had tried shallow breathing so he would not take in too much of the freezing air about him, but that had only made him dizzy again, giving him visions of tiny points of light dancing before his eyes. He began to breath normally again but oxygen deprivation still appeared to be taking hold as he saw a bright red light flash in front of him. To his surprise, Blue felt a little disappointment when the light faded away because there was something warm and friendly about the illusion.

A few minutes later he thought he saw it again, but not in his line of sight as it was last time; this flash came from a few degrees right. If it was the same light, then Blue must not be walking straight. Continuing on, he did his best to keep his head facing the last place he had seen the light and sure enough, two minutes later if flashed again.

"ah..." Blue gasped weakly as he tried to walk faster.

Every two minutes the light seemed a little brighter, a little larger and a little closer, raising the young man's spirits. Although at the same time, he had decided that if it were only his imagination, he would simply give up, lay down and let death take him. Once again he stumbled but this time he fell, hitting the ground hard. He looked up and saw the flash at the top of his field of vision, finally convincing him of its authenticity.

Clambering to his feet, Blue tried to run and failed as he only succeeded in stumbling a little quicker along the road. Eventually he saw what looked like a huge black rectangular block rising up before him and he knew he had finally found the help he so desperately needed; so he picked up a small rock and threw it against the side of the machine.

"Who... who's out there?" a frightened voice called out from inside "I'm warning you... I've got a gun!"

"No you don't, lower the steps" Blue ordered.

Unable to go any further, Blue fell to the ground. Deep in his soul, the desperation that had driven him on finally subsided as the knowledge of his success sunk in and with the driving force gone, his body finally gave up.

"Oh my God... it's you... at last" Maximilian DeGroot declared as the light from the Bull Ant steps shone down on the unmoving figure.

DeGroot hurried down the steps and lifted the exhausted young man to his feet. Putting his arm around Blue's shoulder, DeGroot helped him back inside the giant mobile home.

"It's been over a month, I thought you'd never get here" he confessed "My goodness, you're wet."

"Well spotted Sherlock" Blue gasped "Aren't you going to ask about the girls?"

"Oh I knew they wouldn't be with you; we have to get help so we can rescue them."

"What the... how the hell did you know that?" Blue gasped as DeGroot put a blanket over his shoulders.

"Never mind that for now, you go get into some dry clothes. Get something to eat from the stores and then try to get some rest. I'll get the Bull Ant started and head east; I'll tell you more in the morning."

Blues curiosity was strong, but unfortunately every other part of him was weak after his ordeal. It was much warmer inside the Bull Ant but the young man was still half frozen and extremely tired, so he did as he was told by collapsing on a nearby sofa.

'

'

The half Moon shone brightly over the volcanic island. The cloudless sky enabled the small dragon to look over the southern shoreline as he sat on the rim of the smouldering mountain. This big open outside world was more to his liking than the world below the fissure he had emerged from a month ago and although his instincts told him this was a very important place for a dragon, it still wasn't quite where he wanted to be.

Nevertheless the dragon felt like this was his place; his own convenient personal island and he would stay for a short time to explore the area. This had already proven to be a very big world, and he wanted to be sure he knew each part well before moving on.

'

'

It may be true that Australia is a very warm place, but at this time of year it can be very cold. Where I live we rarely have any snow but yesterday was one of those rare occasions. Not down here in the city, only a light dusting on the top of Mount Lofty (it may technically be a mountain, but it's more like a very big hill.)

One of the side effects of this cold weather (12c/54f) is me wanting to stay inside on the weekends; result over use of air conditioner and lots of writing being done (even though the Boo the cat is running around the house as if her tail was on fire.)

Vin: according to Cartoon Network, the Steven Universe Movie will go to air on the 2nd of September (springtime in Australia and one of my favorite songs by Earth Wind and Fire)

Speaking of which, I highly recommend a Daft Punk mash up of the song I found on YouTube;

/m548DsoGPsQ